Curriculum Policy of Discovery Program for Global Learners

Discovery Program for Global Learners

The Discovery Program for Global Learners aims to produce young leaders who will contribute to the sustainable development of global society in such fields as advanced sciences and international collaboration.
Our education is based on collaboration and mutual learning between students who have diverse backgrounds, such as international students and returnee students who gather here from many countries of the world, and Japanese high school graduates. We place emphasis on practical learning such as what is experienced in internships and fieldwork. Students acquire specialized knowledge through taking courses that are suited to their future goals without restraints due to faculty or department divisions. The university offers courses for the students to discover the issues they wish to explore and their own learning path toward the future. While cooperating with others of differing cultures and major fields, students acquire global and practical wisdom that will enable them to act skillfully in problem-solving situations.
The curriculum can be broadly divided into general education courses and major courses. Major courses consist of major foundation courses, and major courses including fundamental courses, discipline-specific courses, practicum and senior project.
In addition to the general education courses, first-year students are offered the opportunity to take major foundation courses such as small-sized classes in both English and Japanese that enable students to engage in peer learning and mutual understanding between different cultures. The program also offers English-medium courses to raise the level of students’ basic knowledge and skills required for playing an active role on the global stage.
From the second year onwards, students will acquire specialized knowledge and skills by creating their own curriculum with the assistance of their academic advisor In the senior project course, students will accumulate practical knowledge under the supervision of a professor in the English-medium Discovery track or the Japanese-medium Open track.
The English-medium track offers theme-based modules in English. In the fundamental courses taken mainly in the second year, students will learn fundamental knowledge and methods in a particular field of study. In discipline-specific courses taken in the third and the fourth year, students learn specialized knowledge necessary for conducting their senior project.
In the Japanese-medium track, it is possible to acquire specialist knowledge and skills by taking a combination of courses offered mainly in Japanese by each faculty of the university in accordance with the student’s interests and field of study chosen. It is also possible to combine these with courses offered by the Discovery’s Core faculties. For the senior project, a senior project advisor is selected in consultation with the matching advisor and the departmental advisor. The research project will be carried out in the faculty to which the advising professor is affiliated.
The Discovery Program for Global Learners is also making every effort to devise a curriculum of practicum courses, such as fieldwork, internships, study abroad programs and laboratory work as opportunities for practical learning that meets the enthusiasm and needs of students. Both general education courses and major courses offer classes to acquire and raise linguistic competence in Japanese and English to the level required to make effective use of these practicum courses, as well as for mutual understanding in multicultural environments and for the selection of future career options after graduation.